‘Encroachments, black spots, pose threat on Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway’

The collector of Valsad district has slapped the project director of the National Highways Authority of India NHAI with a fine for poor maintenance of roads despite several reminders but no such action has been taken against NHAI officials in Maharashtra where about 400 road users die each year on a shoddy stretchThe death of industrialist Cyrus Mistry in a crash on the MumbaiAhmedabad highway forced NHAI officials to install warning signs and a crash attenuator near an infamous black spotStreetlights are absent on several portions of the stretchThough officials also installed attenuators at four other locations on the stretch a few months later a speeding car crashed into one such device on a Mumbaibound lane near the Tansa riverAlso Read Mumbai The police station that slows down life in VasaiVirarldquoAfter the first car hit the device it got damaged But the NHAI did not wake up Then another car hit the same damaged crash attenuator The NHAI still slumbered But after a speeding truck hit the device and it got destroyed the NHAI officials brought a crane and removed it from the spot The attenuator has not been replacedrdquo said a transporterThe damaged crash attenuator that has allegedly not been replacedPalghar MP Rajendra Gavit told midday that he has been conducting meetings with stakeholders including the police and civic and revenue officials to improve the quality of the highway ldquoThe stretch from Versova bridge to Acchad is quite dangerous Every year around 400 road users die on this stretch At several places there are no streetlights on the highway which is riddled with potholesrdquo Gavit told middayldquoAlso there are around 27 black spots on the stretch Both sides of the highway have been encroached upon These are the things I have been telling the officials concerned to work on but the NHAI officials are making no headwayrdquo he addedldquoI have warned the project director of the NHAI that if the road quality is not improved the only option left will be to file an FIR against him If stringent action is not taken the quality of roads will not be improved and people will continue to be killedrdquo he added Sushant Patil a member of the Bhumiputra Foundation told midday that there are certain patches on the highway where the street lamps were found switched offldquoLocations like Sasunavghar Maljipada and Bafane are always pitch black as street lamps are switched off on the highwayrdquo Patil said Another source from Palghar district said ldquoThe other spots such as Amboli Mendhvan and Somta on the highway are always dark after sunsetrdquo Meanwhile Patil said ldquoEncroachment has taken place under flyovers but NHAI officials are doing nothing to remove them Also the quality of service lane approaching Versova bridge is patheticrdquoMukunda Attarde project director NHAI told midday ldquoAll the potholes formed during last yearrsquos heavy monsoon have been attended to and the highway is maintained in a trafficworthy conditionrdquo He added ldquoRoutine maintenance work such as road marking painting of kerb replacement of damagedmissing signboards catrsquos eyes delineator repair of damagemissing metal beam crash barrier and pedestrian guardrails are also in progressrdquo Attarde stated that a dedicated incident manager has been deployed to immediately attend to incidents on the highway ldquoAmbulance crane towing vehicle etc are available at toll plazas to provide immediate assistancerdquo he saidRegarding black spots Attarde said ldquoWe had three black spots on our list but with the help of traffic officials we learnt about additional ones where accidents were frequently taking place So at present we have installed rumblers near these spots and are working on reducing the number of black spotsrdquo He added ldquoThough we have been trying to mend all the glitches to improve the stretch from Dahisar to the MaharashtraGujarat border road users must also be made aware of road safety rulesrdquoThe project director said ldquoA total of 29 accidentprone areasblackspots had been reported by the safety auditor and 17 spotsstretches have been marked for white topping work Six vehicular underpasses have been sanctioned and the tendering process and six spots are being rectifiedrdquoHe added that site inspection for encroachment identification has been done with the Vasai Virar Municipal Corporation VVMC officials and notices for removing the encroachments are being issuedldquoEncroachment removal was started on March 23 at Pelhar and the process is ongoing Also after site inspections accidentprone median openings have been closed and further action suggested by the police shall be taken immediatelyrdquo he added27No of black spots on the highway